Teen Beauty Pageant Winner Accused Of Toddler's Murder
A Georgia beauty pageant queen was arrested Sunday on suspicion of the murder of a toddler who was found unresponsive at the university she attended, state law enforcement authorities announced.
Trinity Poague, 18, was charged with aggravated battery, child cruelty and murder in the death of an 18-month-old boy after campus police at Georgia Southwestern State University found him unresponsive inside a dormitory on Jan. 14, according to local news outlet WALB.
The child was taken to a hospital in Americus, Georgia, where he later died. Initial findings indicate the cause of death may have been blunt force trauma, the Sumner County coroner told WALB.
The coroner’s office did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for an update on the toddler’s official cause of death. A GSW spokesperson declined to comment on Poague’s arrest, but confirmed in an email to HuffPost that she attended the university as a freshman student in the fall of 2023.
According to reports by local news outlet Donalsonville News, Poague was crowned both Miss Seminole and Miss Donalsonville in 2023.
An Instagram post on Oct. 30 shows Poague in a pageant sash and crown.
“Having a title doesn’t make you higher than anyone, more prettier, or even more ‘popular’, in my case it simply shows the younger generation what is all to achieve,” the caption on the post reads.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Poague is currently booked in Sumter County Jail with no bond.
